How to Write Nursing Essay Topic Sentences Overview
How to Write Nursing Essay Topic Sentences Overview
Understanding the Role of Topic Sentences in Paragraph Development.
To grasp the significance of topic sentences in paragraph development, envision each paragraph as a mini-essay with its own thesis, supporting details, and conclusion. The components of a paragraph correspond to those of an essay as follows:
Essay Level Paragraph Level
Thesis statement Topic sentence
Body paragraphs Supporting details, explanation, analysis
Conclusion Wrap-up sentence(s)
The Importance of Topic Sentences
Similar to how a well-structured essay begins with an introduction presenting the thesis statement and main argument, each paragraph should commence with a topic sentence. The topic sentence serves as a guide, revealing the paragraph’s focus and the specific subtopic that will be supported with evidence. How to Write Nursing Essay Topic Sentences.
Placement of Topic Sentences
A strong topic sentence should be positioned at or near the beginning of the paragraph. It should address a particular issue, avoid direct quotations, and allow room for support and analysis within the paragraph’s body. Continue reading to learn more about crafting effective topic sentences.
How to Place Topic Sentences in Nursing Essays
Although the topic sentence need not be the first sentence in the paragraph, it should appear early on to immediately orient the reader to the paragraph’s focus. Occasionally, a writer may include a transition sentence before the topic sentence to create continuity between topics.
Examples of Topic Sentences:
1. In the novel “Sula,” Morrison employs the physical bonds of female friendship to facilitate self-awareness in her characters.
2. However, Morrison’s use of physical bonds among her female characters extends beyond emotional and spiritual aspects to instigate their coming-of-age. How to Write Nursing Essay Topic Sentences.
Importance of Specificity
A topic sentence should be more narrowly focused than the thesis sentence, ensuring that the claim made can be supported, argued, and analyzed within the confines of the paragraph.
Example: In the novel “Sula,” Morrison uses the physical bonds of female friendship to propel her characters into self-awareness. How to Write Nursing Essay Topic Sentences.
The above topic sentence successfully argues that specific physical bonds of friendship contribute to the female characters’ self-awareness. Since this claim can be examined and evaluated with evidence and analysis from the novel within a single paragraph, it qualifies as a strong topic sentence.
Use of Direct Quotations (Best Avoided)
Although starting a paragraph with a compelling quotation might seem tempting, topic sentences should generally state the main idea in one’s own words. Direct quotations are better placed later in the paragraph to support the topic sentence. How to Write Nursing Essay Topic Sentences.
Example of Improvement:
1. Needs Improvement: As Morrison (1982) conveyed, the girls’ “friendship let them use each other to grow on…they found in each other’s eyes the intimacy they were looking for” (p. 52).
2. Better: In the novel “Sula,” Morrison uses the physical bonds of female friendship to propel her characters into self-awareness. Pointing to the connection of eyes meeting and bodies growing together, Morrison makes coming-of-age an interactive physical process between the adolescent protagonists. Specifically, Morrison describes how Sula and Nel have used “each other to grow on…they found in each other’s eyes the intimacy they were looking for” (p. 52). How to Write Nursing Essay Topic Sentences.
Additional Tips on Writing Nursing Essay Topic Sentences
If you find it challenging to create effective topic sentences, consider outlining your paper before starting to write. The points and sub-points in the outline can then be transformed into topic sentences for the paragraphs.
Moreover, as the topic sentence functions similarly at the paragraph level to the thesis at the essay level, you may find it helpful to review our thesis statement construction information. Our resource on paragraphs also provides valuable insights into the scope of a paragraph. In academic writing, a paragraph acts as a concrete unit advancing a central argument. Each paragraph presents a new claim, building upon previous ones until the writer establishes the position of the entire paper conclusively. How to Write Nursing Essay Topic Sentences.
